Production interface for an integrated circuit test system

ABSTRACT

A production operator interface is created using self-contained ActiveX controls each of which provide an interface to a specific part of the overall test system. These controls all communicate among themselves automatically. The production interface uses an ActiveX &#34;tester control&#34; which provides an application programming interface to the rest of the software control system. A library of self-contained ActiveX controls is provided which contains &#34;operator controls&#34; which may be &#34;dragged and dropped&#34; into an operator window to provide the operator with information and the ability to control the test system. In addition a semiconductor test system needs to be adapted to work with one or more different packaged device handlers or wafer probers which position a semiconductor device for testing by the tester. An ActiveX operator control allows an operator to select a handler driver from a library of handler drivers.

This application is a divisional of application Ser. No. 08/931,793, filed Sep. 16, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,828,674.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to automatic test equipment used in the manufacture of semiconductors and more specifically to the production interface and handler drivers of the test system

2. Description of the Related Art

Automatic test equipment is widely used in the manufacture of semiconductors. Semiconductors are generally tested at least once during their manufacture and are sometimes tested at more than one step in the manufacturing process. Because every component is tested, speed of testing is critical to the economic manufacture of semiconductors. Slow testing prevents full utilization of the expensive capital equipment needed to produce semiconductor components. Modern semiconductor components are very complicated and have many operating states. Each of these operating states must be exercised to perform a complete test. Automatic test equipment is therefore designed to apply test data to a semiconductor device and make numerous measurements very quickly in a production setting.

FIG. 1 shows a generalized automatic test system of the prior art. To provide thorough and fast testing, the automatic test system generally includes a tester body 112, a computerized work station 110 and a handling device 114. The computer work station 110 controls both the handling device 114 and the tester body 112. It controls the handling device 114 to position the semiconductor device (not shown) where it makes contacts with numerous test probes 118 on the tester body 112. Often, a tester will include a separate test head containing test probes 118. However, such a distinction is not important for the invention.

Workstation 110 then controls tester body 112 to run a series of tests on the device under test. Each test generally includes a setup portion in which control signals are sent from the work station 110 to the tester body 112. The control signals are usually digital values sent over bus 116. These control signals configure the hardware within tester body 112 to make the measurements required for the test The hardware within the tester body provides stimulus and measures responses from the device under test in accordance with the control signals.

FIG. 1 shows that the hardware within tester body 112 includes numerous circuits identified as pins 124. Each pin 124 generates signals or makes measurements for one of the test probes 118. Each pin might provide or measure a static, or DC, signal. Alternatively, each pin 124 might provide or measure changing data in what is sometimes called a "burst".

During a burst, tester body 120 is controlled by timing and sequencing circuit 120. Timing and sequencing circuit 120 causes each of the pins 124 to read a sequence of data values from an associated memory 128. Each data value indicates the type of signal the pin should apply or expect to measure at its associated test probe 118 at a specific point in time. If the pin compares a measurement to an expected value, the results might also be stored in memory 128.

The set of data values that define the values all the pins 124 should provide or expect to measure at one time is called a "vector." During a burst, many vectors are executed. The vectors must be executed at a very high rate to simulate actual operating conditions of the device under test. There are usually millions of vectors to define the bursts needed to test a semiconductor device. The vectors are typically loaded into memories 128 at the time test system is programmed to test a particular type of part. This loading process might take several minutes and is not repeated for each burst. Rather, for each burst, work station 110 sends commands indicating which vectors are to be executed as part of the burst. Once the burst is completed, work station 110 reads the results of the burst from memory 128 or timing and sequencing circuit 120.

In addition, tester body 112 includes one or more instruments 126. An instrument performs a specific test function. It might for example generate a specific test signal such as a sine wave. Alternatively, an instrument might sample a signal at a high rate so that it can later be analyzed by a digital signal processor. These functions might be performed as part of a burst or might be performed separate from a burst.

A full test of a part, sometimes called a "job", will consist of a series of bursts interspersed with DC measurements or measurements by instruments 126. The bursts might be used to measure specific functional attributes of the device under test. Alternatively, each burst might be used only to place the device under test into a state in which a DC measurement can be taken. The order in which these elements of a test are performed, sometimes called the "flow," is dictated by software in workstation 110.

Once a device has been fully tested, or tested to the point where it is determined to be defective, work station 110 generates control signals to the handling device 114. Handling device 114 then presents the next device to be tested to tester body 112 and the process is repeated. Work-station 110 also gathers data about whether particular devices passed or failed. It can process this data so that defective devices are discarded or it can perform other functions, such as analyzing the data for failure trends.

For production it is highly desirable that the software that allows an operator to control the tester be very easy to learn and use. What is needed in a production test environment, is a very simple operator interface interface to the rest of the test system. In addition the interface must be flexible and easy to change because of the many varied requirements of this interface from customer to customer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method to create a simple operator interface to the test system that is very flexible. A production operator interface is created using self-contained ActiveX controls each of which provide an interface to a specific part of the overall test system. These controls all communicate among themselves automatically. The production interface uses an ActiveX "tester &Control" which provides an application programming interface to the rest of the software control system. A library of self-contained ActiveX controls is provided which contains "operator controls" which may be "dragged and dropped" into an operator window to provide the operator with information and the ability to control the test system. The ActiveX operator controls interface through the ActiveX tester control to the rest of the test system.

In addition a semiconductor test system needs to be adapted to work with one or more different packaged device handlers or wafer probers which position a semiconductor device for testing by the tester. An ActiveX operator control allows an operator to select a handler driver from a library of handler drivers. Each handler driver uses an ActiveX handler tester control which serves as the interface between the handler and the ActiveX tester control (and thus to the rest of the test system).

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a hardware block diagram of a prior art tester.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the Production Interface of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an example of a very simple Production Operator Interface.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 2 is a detailed functional block diagram of the complete test system of the present invention. The system includes a PC workstation 2000, tester 2002, a handler 2004, and a host 2006. The software of workstation 2000 is made up of a production interface 2008 and test development and execution program 2010 (generically called a software control system).

Production interface 2008, serves as the interface between the operator and test development and execution program 2010, host 2006 and handler 2004. To control this equipment in a production test environment, it is necessary to provide 5a very simple control interface to the equipment operator. However, there are many varied requirements of this interface from customer to customer and even site to site within the same customer. In addition, the test equipment must often interface to other computer control systems with a variety of requirements. Providing an interface that is simple yet flexible, which meets the requirements of all users, and can be interfaced to other computer control programs has been a very difficult problem. This was all previously programmed in C/C++

Production interface 2008 solves the problem through the use of self contained control objects hereinafter called self contained "controls" each of which provides an interface to a specific part of the overall test system including test development and execution program 2010, host 2006, and handler drivers 2024. These controls all communicate among themselves automatically.

In the preferred embodiment, these controls are "ActiveX" controls written in Visual Basic (hereinafter VB) from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. These controls can be combined quickly and easily into a graphical user interface (GUI) using Visual Basic or can be used as a programmatic interface without a GUI. The Active X controls allow the operator to initiate an action in test development and execution program 2010, host 2000,or handler 2004. The operator during production testing uses an active X control to communicate with executive 2016. In addition, the operator may initiate accompanying actions by the handler 2004 and the host 2006 or the production interface may automatically initiate action in test development and execution program 2010 (through executive 2016) in response to requests from Handler 2004 or Host 2006.

An ActiveX control interface is defined by properties, events, and methods. A method is a Visual Basic function that may be called in the control. The function can take arguments and return a value, and is analogous to a function definition in a C/C++ library. A property is basically a global variable in the control, with access functions provided to get and/or set its value. Properties can be made programmable at design time or run time, and VB automatically handles saving programmed property values as part of the production interface executable. An event is a signal initiated by the control that is passed to the object containing the control. The container (the production interface in the preferred embodiment) can include a handler for the event if it is needed.

There are four types of ActiveX controls in the preferred embodiment:

Tester Control 2014. This provides an application programming interface (API) to the rest of the system.

Operator controls 2022. These are GUI components that allow an operator at the tester console to perform actions or view status.

Handler Tester Control 2026. This is an ActiveX control that defines the interface to any handler 2004. This serves as the single connection point between the handler driver 2024 and the Tester Control 2014 of the production interface. Anything containing this control can be used as a handler driver 2024 by production interface 2008.

Host interface control 2021. This control translates the Tester Control 2014 API into standard messages sent to or received from host 2006.

The term production controls refers to all ActiveX controls used to create a production operator interface and/or handler driver. This includes the tester control, operator controls, handler tester control and host interface controls.

To operate the tester in a semiconductor production environment there needs to be a variety of windows available that the operator may bring up on his display depending on the test to be performed. To create these windows the programmer can "drag and drop" controls from a library of ActiveX controls onto the operator window. ActiveX controls are designed to be self-contained so that they may be dragged and dropped into any application. The term "drag and drop" is used generically to refer to the act of selecting an object and placing that object into a container. The term container is used generically to refer to an entity that can contain other objects. In the preferred embodiment the container is the operator window and the objects are ActiveX controls. The advantage is the simplicity with which the different windows at the operator interface may be created. Previously, all such forms needed to be individually programmed in C/C++ which was difficult and time consuming. It is a completely novel application to use ActiveX controls for operator controls in semiconductor testing.

Another advantage is the manner in which the ActiveX controls on a specific window at the operator station all talk to each other. Each ActiveX control is designed to operate such that at the time of initialization each operator control will search for other operator controls and the tester control in the window and establish a communication link to every other ActiveX control such that each control can talk to each other control.

To further illustrate, an example production operator interface is shown in FIG. 3. Operator Interface 3000 contains a tester control 3030, a bin display 3010, and a start button 3020. The bin display and start button are examples of operator controls. An example of the search routine is that used to identify all bin displays in the window is given below. The method used is to iterate through all controls in the parent window looking for controls of type "BinDisplay". When a bin display is found, an object handle for that control is saved for future communication with the bin displays. This search routine was difficult to determine and the following program written in visual basic is the best mode known for the search.

Note 1: This routine currently looks up exactly one level, it should be extended to walk through an arbitrary number of levels.

Note 2: This routine is called whenever communication with a bin display in needed (see note 3). Since the number of controls cannot change at run time (see note 4), for optimization, if bin displays have already been found, the routine simply exits.

Note 3: This routine is called multiple times because there is not an appropriate initialization event for the user control when it can be called. Neither UserControl₋₋ Initialize or UserControl₋₋ InitProperties works for different reasons. This should be corrected when possible.

Note 4: Controls can actually be added at run time. We are assuming that this will not happen. This may not strictly be a safe assumption.

Private Sub BinDisplayInit()

Dim thisControl As Object

If Not IsEmty(BinDisplayHandleSet) Then Exit Sub BinDisplayHandleSet=True FoundBinDisplays=False

For Each thisControl In UserControl.Parent.Controls

If Typeof thisControl Is BinDisplay Then If FoundBinDisplays Then ReDim Preserve BinDisplayHandle(UBound(BinDisplayHandle)--LBound(BinDisplayHandle)+1)

Else

ReDim BinDisplayHandle (1) FoundBinDisplays=True

End If

Set BinDisplayHandle(UBound(BinDisplayHandle))=thisControl End If Next thisControl End Sub

As an example of how the ActiveX controls communicate with each other, when the operator wishes to initiate a test he will use an ActiveX start control in operator controls 2022. The start control is programmed to communicate with a method in the ActiveX tester control 2014 that will initiate the start of the test by the executive 2016. The test program will run and a result will be available. The test development and execution program 2010 will send back an indication that the test is complete. The tester control 2014 will request the results of the test from executive 2016. The tester control 2014 next will inform any bin displays of the test results.

All of the ActiveX controls in the operator interface communicate to the rest of the test system through the ActiveX tester control. There is only one tester control 2014.

The operator controls 2022 also have an ActiveX handler control that lets an operator select a handler from a menu of available handler drivers, connect it, and enable it. The term handlers is used generically to refer to packaged device handlers or wafer probers. The design of handler drivers 2024 is a major departure from what was done in the prior art. The handler support for these prior art testers consists of a single, highly configurable library that attempts to support all possible equipment. This has proved to be difficult for customers to use. Configuring any particular piece of equipment is complicated because the interface has many programmable settings, only some of which are necessary. If a new handler requires a feature not available in the library, a system software update is required which the end customer can't do. And the library is bug-prone, since any change to support new handlers risks introducing bugs in preexisting ones.

In the preferred embodiment each handler has its own driver, containing only the code necessary to operate that specific handler. At run time, the driver required to operate the handler in use is dynamically loaded into the production interface. This has important advantages over the prior art approach:

Since each driver module has only the code it requires, it is much smaller and simpler.

The Visual Basic environment makes it easy for the field organization or customers themselves to create a new driver without requiring support from the factory software group. The preferred embodiment includes a number of drivers which can be copied as starting points.

There is little risk that software development for the invention will cause bugs, unlike with a single library which must be continually changed to add new features.

The preferred embodiment will provide a library of handler drivers which customers can either use directly or as a base for developing a new driver. To develop a new driver, the usual start is to copy one of the preferred embodiment's drivers. The driver consists of a VB form that contains, at a minimum, a Handler Tester Control 2026 and calls to a communications interface 2028. The Handler Tester Control 2026 defines the interface to the handler 2004. User-defined code uses the control's properties, events, and methods and also programs the handler appropriately through the communications interface 2028.

More specifically, the Handler Tester Control 2026 is an ActiveX control that defines the interface to any handler 2004. This serves as the single connection point between the handler driver 2024 and the rest of the production interface 2008. Anything containing this control can be used by production interface 2008 as a handler driver 2024.

The communications interface 2028 defines the network transport layer between the Tester Control 2014 and any peripheral. The handler driver 2024 uses one or more communication interfaces 2028 to do actual reads and writes to and from the handler or prober 2004.

Production interface 2008 also has an ActiveX host interface control 2021 that allows the operator to connect the host 2006 to the tester 2002. On the production floor, a tester 2002 is sometimes connected to a host 2006 that monitors tester status, collects test results, and can control the testing process directly.

The Host interface control 2021 translates the Tester Control 2014 API into standard messages sent to or received from host 2006. There are two parts to the host interface control 2021. The Host Message Control 2030 is responsible for translating the Tester Control 2014 API into messages in a standard format that can be understood by the host. The Network Interface 2032 does the actual network communication with the host machine.

The Host Message Control 2030 is an ActiveX control which listens to the Tester Control 2014 events and can execute its properties and methods. When a Tester Control 2014 event is received that requires a message to the host 2006, it produces a host message describing the event and raises a "message ready" event. When a message is received from the host 2006 via a "message received" method, it accesses the appropriate Tester Control methods and properties to implement the request. The network interface 2032 is handled by code in the production interface which interacts with the host message control.

Test development and execution program 2010 operates within the Windows NT operating system and is made up of software divided into elements that are used 1) at test development and analysis time and 2) at test execution time. Excel workbook 308 is the portion of the program used to develop tests during test development and analysis time. Excel is a spreadsheet program that allows an application to be developed. Visual Basic is a programming language built into Excel that is used to write test templates and to control execution of tests.

In the preferred embodiment the device data development and flow development tools 310 are implemented by customized spreadsheets within the Excel workbook 308. Three types of data need to be specified by the spreadsheets for a test: device data, test flow data, and test instance data. For device data these may be spreadsheets for time sets, channel maps, edge sets or a pinmap. Each of these spreadsheets is a dataset. The test instance data spreadsheets specify the test template and its associated device data set. A test template is a test algorithm. In the preferred embodiment, test templates are written in Visual Basic. A test template and its associated data set is called an "instance". Test flow data may be spread sheets specifying a series of test steps that are to be executed. The series of test steps may be the execution of a series of test templates each using an associated device data set.

Summarizing, the Excel spreadsheet information 312 includes the device data sets, the test instance information which defines which templates are to be used with the associated data set, and the test flow information defining the sequence of test instances to be executed.

Test Templates 320 are written in Visual Basic and are normally provided by the manufacturer. The data device and flow development tools 310, Excel worksheets 312 and manufacturer provided test templates 320 are used during test development and analysis time prior to the time of test execution during production testing. Test templates 320 and Excel worksheets 312 are used also during production testing.

The additional software of test development and execution program 2010 that is used at test execution time during production testing is the executive 2016, flow control software 314, data manager 316, and device drivers 328. All of this software works in the Windows NT operating system environment.

In the preferred embodiment, the tester control 2014 initiates the loading of the test program. Excel is started and the workbook 308 is opened up. The data from worksheets 312 go to data manager 316. The executive 2016 responds to tester control 2014 and calls flow control 314 and instrument drivers 328. They request data from the data manager 316. The test is now ready to go and the all functions assume an idle state. When the test program is ready to run, the tester control tells the executive 2016 to initiate the test. The executive tells flow control 314 to execute the program. The flow control determines which instance to execute and calls a template from template library 320. The template requests the device data (i.e. arguments) from the data manager 316 and then calls the drivers 328.

Device drivers 328 provide the signals to tester 2002 to perform a full test or "job" on a device under test (DUT). The full test will include DC level, functional, and serial/scan testing of the DUT. The tester may be any state of the art tester for a semiconductor. An example of a tester is given in U.S. Pat. No. 5,606,568, assigned to the same assignee Teradyne, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

After tester 2002 finishes the test the template determines whether the test passes or fails and returns control to the flow control 314. The flow control then determines if more instances need to be executed or whether the flow is done. If the flow is done then the test system enters an idle state.

The Test Development and Execution Module 2010 is more fully disclosed in a co-pending patent application, assigned to the same assignee Teradyne, entitled "LOW COST, EASY TO USE AUTOMATIC TEST SYSTEM SOFTWARE" to Daniel C. Proskauer and Predeep B. Deshpande, filed on Jun. 13, 1997 and assigned Ser. No. 08/874,615, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

Additional details of the production interface 2008, handler drivers 2024, and host interface control 2022 are provided in the following APPENDIX A.

All rights including copyrights in the material contained in APPENDIX A are vested in and the property of Teradyne, the assignee of the present invention. Teradyne retains and reserves all rights in APPENDIX A and grants permission to reproduce the material only in connection with reproduction of the granted patent and for no other purpose. While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, numerous variations and alternative embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it is intended that the invention be limited only in terms of the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A process for manufacturing semiconductor components including the step of testing the semiconductor components using a semiconductor test system operated according to a method comprising the steps of:a) providing a library containing a plurality of control objects, each of the control objects having a visible representation associated therewith; b) selecting a portion of the plurality of control objects using the visible representations associated therewith; c) executing an initiation phase whereby identifications of selected control objects are stored; d) executing a test job by activating a control object whereby during execution of the test job control objects use the stored identifications of selected control objects to share information with other selected control objects.
 2. The process of claim 1 wherein a portion of the control objects comprise operator controls having associated therewith a visible display for use by a human operator.
 3. The process of claim 1 wherein a portion of the control objects comprise host message control objects.
 4. The process of claim 1 wherein a portion of the control objects comprise tester control objects.
 5. The process of claim 1 wherein a portion of the control objects comprise handler control objects.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the library contains control objects for a plurality of types of handlers.
 7. The process of claim 1 wherein the control objects are self contained control objects that are selected by moving the visible representations associated therewith to an active window.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of executing an initiation phase comprises controlling the selected control objects to search for other selected control objects.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of executing an initiation phase to store an identification of selected control objects comprises storing handles to selected control objects.
 10. A process for manufacturing semiconductor components including the step of testing the semiconductor components using a semiconductor test system operated according to a method comprising the steps of:a) providing a library containing a plurality of control objects, each of the control objects having a visible representation associated therewith; b) selecting control objects from the library by dragging and dropping the visible representations associated therewith into an active window; c) executing an initialization routine during which selected control objects search for other selected control objects and store indications of other selected control objects; d) executing a test job by activating a first control object and a second control object whereby the second control object is accessed by the first control object using the stored identification.
 11. The process of claim 10 wherein the control objects include Active-X control objects.
 12. The process of claim 10 wherein the step of activating a first control object comprises a human operator activating a button display on a computer screen.
 13. The process of claim 10 wherein the step of executing a test job is performed in a production environment.
 14. The process of claim 13 wherein the step of selecting control objects and executing a test job are performed by different human operators of the test system.
 15. A process for manufacturing semiconductor components including the step of testing the semiconductor components using a semiconductor test system operated according to a method comprising the steps of:a) providing a library containing a plurality of control objects, each of the control objects having a visible representation associated therewith; b) forming a production interface by selecting control objects from the library using a drag and drop human interface, thereby placing visual representations associated with selected control objects in an active window; c) initializing the production interface by storing handles representing selected control objects; d) executing a test job during which a selected control object accesses another control object using the stored handles.
 16. The process of claim 15 wherein the step of initializing comprises iterating through all selected controls, identifying controls of a predetermined type and storing a handle to the identified controls.
 17. The process of claim 15 wherein the library of control objects comprises ACTIVE-X control objects.
 18. The process of claim 15 wherein the step of executing a test job comprises a human activating a control object. 